Frugal tip – plan your meals around sales
Even if you’re not into couponing, there are still many ways that you can save money on groceries.
One of my personal favorites? Planning meals around sales.
Check your weekly flyers
Each week, you should receive a new batch of weekly sales flyers from the stores in your area. Whether they come to your home, or you view them online, make sure that “sale-watching” is a regular part of your routine.
I check my flyers every Thursday morning. I sit at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee, a high lighter, and my flyers, and I highlight all of the great deals for my family.
Why this is important
Instead of going to the store and buying whatever strikes your fancy, buying sale items only is going to bring you the greatest amount of savings. If saving money is important to you (which I’d like to think it is if you’re reading this blog!), then this is something you need to do before you go shopping.
Of course, you can still buy a few non-sale items if you really need them, but for the most part, you want to stick to sale-only items when you’re at the grocery store.
How to do it
Let’s say chicken breasts are on sale for a really good price, and your family loves chicken breast. This is an item you want to buy, and plan at least one meal for the week with that chicken.
If stewing beef in on sale, consider a hearty bowl of beef stew one night.
For our family, we don’t eat any animal products at all, so my main focus when I shop is produce. If I see cauliflower on sale, I will likely grab one or two of them and make cauliflower crust pizza, or for lunch, I could have a baked potato with cauliflower “cheese” sauce.
Whatever your diet is, whatever your budget is, make sure you are purchasing those sale items and planning your weekly meals around them!
This is one of my absolute favorite ways to save money on groceries, and it’s also a fun challenge for me – to come up with a meal plan based on items I find on sales (instead of the other way around, when I plan a menu, and then overspend on groceries that are likely not on sale).
Do you plan your meals around sales?
For more menu planning tips, be sure to check out my eBook, How to Achieve Menu Planning Success.
